I had planned on getting some writing done this morning, and then assisting Pete with Tinni’s and Tyra’s hoof care. The day has not gone as planned, but thus far, it’s been a good day.

I foresaw that Pete had too much on his plate, so I did the indoor stuff, the dishes and laundry (hung it up). Then I went outside and picked raspberries and currants. The latter took some time, but now we have enough berries on hand so that Pete can make jam. In the meantime, Pete holed himself up in the black hole and put the gaiters on Tyra’s boots.

Pete lifing Tinni's foot

Pete and I did the farrier work. It was a laborious, exacting, and time consuming process, but ultimately quite gratifying. We first tied Tinni up to the tie ring in his shelter, then gathered together the farrier equipment. Pete did one foot at a time while Tinni ate his lunch.

First he trimmed the hoof. Then he heated the hoof boot with the heat gun and fitted it to the hoof. Then, after, I applied Hoof Armor, which is a protectant. He then put foot powder on the sole. We finished up by putting anti-bacteria ointment on Tinni’s sulcus, which is located at the rear of the hoof, at the center of the frog.

The front boots seemed to be more secure than the rear. He had not put the gaiters on Tinni’s boots but said that he thinks that they will better secure the boots. If not, we will have to purchase another pair for Tinni’s rear hooves.

Pete did all four hooves in succession. After lunch, he trimmed Tyra and shaped the boots to her feet, also using the heat gun. Tyra doesn’t need Hoof Armor. Pete applied this to Tinni’s hooves because, according to Pete Ramey, he has thin soles.

I must say, Tyra looked like the equivalent of a ballet dancer in her spiffy new boots. I badly wanted to take her for a ride and try them out, but midway through the trimming session it started to rain. I think that I am going to have to get used to riding in the rain because it now rains a lot in this part of the world.

The hoof care plan is now this – Pete is going to trim four weeks into the cycle and Josh will trim eight weeks into the cycle. We had been having Josh trim at eight weeks exclusively – this new schedule will be better for the horses. It will also, in the long run, save us money.

Right now Raudi has regular shoes. She’ll go barefoot once we develop a routine and Pete gets a bit more practiced at trimming.

I am so incredibly excited about this farrier-related change in management. And I’m really happy about the fact that Pete and Josh are behind this effort. We are thinking that if this works that the horses will go barefoot with hoof boots when we do our next trip. And I am going to get some barefoot shoes. However, I don’t think that I’ll need to have the heat gun applied to the bottom of my soles.